Monster
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Movie Reviews of Monster
Movie Review: Personally, one of the most impressive movies of all time
Summary: 5 Stars
I didn't watch this at the cinema. I watched it on DVD at home. I have to admit this movie was so strong I couldn't watch it at one go. I had to watch it a few scenes at a time. Now, with regards to gore and explicit nude and sex scenes, this movie is not over-the-top. In fact I'm impressed why a lot of people with negative reviews have been scandalized by the movie's sexual scenes. The most you see is Charlize's [...] and I think we should be used to seeing this type of flesh exposure on cinema and TV. Maybe it's the lesbic content of the sexual scenes that some people just can't digest. But, for me, that's just turning one's eyes away from an accepted reality nowadays. However, despite all this, this movie is still very strong.
Reading other reviews, I noticed that some people were angry at the movie for trying to justify murderers while other were angry at the movie for putting homosexuality in a bad light. This shows that ultimately the movie does not bias itself towards one perspective rather than another but it actually gives an objective picture of the story, leaving the viewers a space for their personal interpretation. Personally, I never thought the movie was trying to justify anything. Based (with an emphasis on the word BASED) on the true story of Aileen, of whom I made a bit of research on the internet, the movie highlights both the difficult childhood and youth of the serial killer and what she became in her adulthood. The movie doesn't try to justify Aileen at all. In fact, in one scene of the movie, there's a conversation between Selby and her aunt in which Selby sympathizes with her terrible past while her aunt says that not all people with a difficult childhood become hookers. The way Aileen's futile attempts to escape what she has become are depicted is done in a very effective manner. And finally, in the scene were Aileen and Selby are talking over the phone while the conversation is being taped, I couldn't not break into a waterfall of tears. The scene was so heartbreaking! I couldn't not feel for a character who lived like a stray dog, throughout her whole life was treated like a stray dog and in the end had to die unloved, just like a stray dog!
Ultimately, the movie's aim is not that of depicting Aileen as a good person. It depicts Aileen as a weak and fragile person who, throughout her life, was punished for her own bad decisions. Despite all of this, not everyone is intrinsically bad, and we see that Aileen was still a person in need of love, and who was still able to deeply love Selby. In other words, we get a very 3-dimensional view of the serial killer's character.
A very good but strong movie. So beware of this, whoever watches it!
Movie Review: I saw it again!!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Yes, I already reviewed this in January when I saw it on the big screen. This movie was so big and so powerful, I had to see it again, this time on DVD in my own home. It was still just as powerful, just as moving, and just as amazing the second time as the first. I was able to marvel all over again at the depth and talent of Charlize Theron, from the way she swaggered, to the way she held her cigarette, to the way she spoke and used her eyes. Here is an acting job so complete that to watch the movie FOR the acting is difficult. It means you have to remove yourself from the character and the story. When I saw this movie in the theatre I can remember that for the first time in many years, I did not look at my watch, I didn't talk to my friend, I didn't eat my popcorn. I'm not sure I even blinked. I was completely involved. Same deal at home. What was different for me the second time was that it allowed me to really appreciate the performance by Christina Ricci. I was so blown away by Charlize Theron the first time I couldn't appreciate what Christina did with her character. I had different feelings about her character, Selby Wall, the second time too. I thought she was a sociopath the first time, a manipulative and scary young girl. The second time, I thought she was just a scared young girl who wanted someone to take care of her, and who really didn't realize the impact of what her lover Lee was getting her into. Which one was correct? Who knows? Maybe both. To me, the Selby character is pretty far removed from Tyria Moore (from what I know of the real life story), but the film does imply very clearly that Selby knew exactly what Lee was doing the whole time (Aileen Wuornos insisted to the end that Tyria did not know-something I always found hard to believe).
If you want to experience something truly wonderful; if you are sick of bad, superficial, waste-your- money movies, I urge you to see this one. You will not be disappointed. And for goodness sake, it's not the makeup that makes this a great performance, as a few critics have alluded to. Get real. It's the acting. Actually, "acting" seems to me to be too superficial a word for what this was. Charlize Theron nailed this to the point where it may be the best performance this girl has ever seen! I'm sure I'll be watching it again.
Just a word about the DVD- The sound was not that great. Whenever music was playing and they were speaking at the same time, you could not hear what the characters were saying (maybe it was my player). Also, the DVD said there was extra stuff included, like an interview with Patty Jenkins and BT. That wasn't there either.
Movie Review: Who's To Blame?
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie is disturbing...incredibly disturbing...It is the story of serial killer Aileen Wuornos...but you knew that already. Aileen is used and abused all of her life and then she snaps and she starts her killing spree. Being a Spiritual Practitioner I encourage every one to take 100% complete and total responsibility for their lives and yet even though I encourage this, I know that some things are not so black and white. The sad fact is, that people do use us, they do abuse us, they do confuse us and sometimes we are walking a very thin line between sanity and insanity.
Sometimes, it's a wonder how most of us have made it this far without snapping.
I had a situation where I was involved with an abusive person. This person made me feel small, inadequate, and totally worthless. I was relatively young when a lot of this happened, but I can clearly remember going to bed one night swearing to myself that if this person didn't knock it off, one day they were going to be sorry.
Fortunately, that person died before the rage within me completely boiled over. And yet even though this person had died, there was still this anger, this bitterness, this hardness that was growing over me that could have infected my entire world but instead of taking it out on others, I took it out on myself in various forms and dresses and it was only until I got a small glimpse that maybe I was worthy...maybe I was deserving...maybe I was good enough to have love and respect and appreciation for myself, that all of this hate, all of this bitterness, all of this rage dissolved from a true and honest willingness to forgive this person that had violated my psyche and not let them abuse me any more.
I don't approve of what Aileen Wuornos did, but I also don't judge her. This truth is, that she was all too human and yes, her acts may have been considered "monstrous" and horrible, but were the acts that were done on her any less horrible? This movie will make you question your life right down to the marrow of your bones. I know that after watching this, I had several fitful nights of sleep, I was very troubled, and very upset. Who knows how my life would've been if somehow the power of Grace hadn't stepped in?
We are all capable of being monsters, but the Truth is, the real Truth is, that we are much more capable of being angels. Aileen Wuornos is now an angel. She didn't go to hell. She was in hell while she was here and because God is a God of Love, God's Love redeemed her and gave her yet another opportunity to begin.
This is what Grace is all about.
Peace & Blessings
Movie Review: charlize theron raises the bar with this role
Summary: 5 Stars
it should come as no real shock to any true movie lover that charlize theron won best actress at the academy award this year. not to mention all thr awards she won prior to that such as the golden globe award. considered by many to be one of the top ten performances of all times, charlize theron gives us a shocking yet humanized portrait of aileen wuornos which is completely unforgettable. aileen wuornos will remind us all in many ways of ourselves with her hopes, dreams, & how we often cry out for help but no one truly hears us. unfortunately, most of us wait most of our lives for that special moment or person which is reason enough to reconcile everything we've done & even consider living. selby was aileen's reason for living after she comtemplated suicide & her ultimate hope for having a better life. obviously, aileen had never really considered a relationship with a woman but i believe strongly that felt it was worth a try after living a life of emptiness & constant heartache. my question is this? why couldn't selby go out & get a job to help pay the bills? knowing full well that aileen didn't want to prostitute her body any longer, could selby have not tried to help out somehow? throughout the course of the film, we learn how truly disturbed aileen really is & how this stems from repeated abuse over time which never truly ceases. at one point in the film, ms. wuornos(played by theron) tells a man held at gunpoint of how she was molested as a child by a friend of the family & physically abused as well by her own father for simply conveying the truth. she also reveals to us us that she has been on the streets since the age of 13 selling her body to men who we can assume were just as abusive. what i find most touching about monster is how ms. wuonrnos tried so many times to go out into society & earn a decent living but failed like so many do because of the way society is so quick to judge or reject a human for simply trying to better themselves. monster is not an easy film to digest by any means & packs quite a wallop but is definately a must see film. patty jenkins allows us to feel sympathy for the woman who so many people would've considered to be a monster & is asking us to rethink everything we've learned about this tortured soul. charlize theron may have had some decent roles in the past but probability suggests that nothing she has done in the past or will do in the future will hold a candle to her performance here. charlize theron is remarkable here in nearly every sense of the word. although i've never truly agreed with the academy decisions, theron rightfully deserved the oscar she recieved last month.Movie Review: The Creation of a Killer
Summary: 5 Stars
If there was ever a more deserved academy award for a lead dramatic performance, Charlize Theron as serial killer, Aileen Wuormos, it most certainly is this one. Take away the latex, make-up and false teeth, the extra thirty pounds and damaged blond hair, and you would still have the unnerving personification of this tragic woman.
This dark tale, based on a true story, is disturbing on many levels. The character of Aileen Wuormos, on one level, is a terrible indictment of a compassionless society. A more accurate title for this film would be, "The Making of a Serial Killer." Aileen Wuormas was sexually abused as a young child by one of her father's best friends, and then beaten severely by her father for telling him. In effect, this little child was raped on a continual basis throughout puberty. Forced on the street at thirteen years of age, she turns to prostitution, and lives her life in this manner for the rest of her days. As the character states at one point in the film, no one knows what life is like as a homeless person and a prostitute, unless you are one, it is not an easy life, taking a tremendous amount of will to survive, but if it's the only thing you know to survive, you keep doing it.
In a seeming compassionless world, she meets a lonely young woman who reaches out to her. Selby (Christina Ricci) is a lovely enough girl, naive and inexperienced, but is weak, incapable of action, and utterly dependent. Though for the strong and independent Aileen, a perfect partner to care for and love. This is a complicated relationship, but in the end, a transparent one.
The turning point in the film, and for Aileen Wuormos, is the unmentionable incident, where she's beaten, made a prisoner, and horrifically raped. To save her life she retaliates as any person in the same situation would, killing her assailant. This sets her off onto a killing spree across Florida, assassinating Johns, found in compromising positions. When she finally confesses to Selby about the murders, her justification is,
"Everybody out there is killing and raping, and I'm the one out there killing them".
There is no justifying murder in any situation, unless in self defence, or in the organised arena of war, but writer/director, Patty Jenkins, has endeavoured to reveal to us another side, and that is a victim living on raw hopes and dreams that are continually crushed, unleashing a response, an almost primeval reaction of extreme violence.
This is a film that I would have no desire to see again, though brilliant, once is enough, as it is such a tragedy.